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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Foreign Student Exchange: The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Are you a high school student who has
recently been approached by school staff and given the unique opportunity to
study abroad as a participant of a foreign student exchange? Would it be helpful if you had a bit more
information regarding these types of programs and what’s potentially in store
for you? If so, the following article
may prove quite useful. Here we will spend
some time discussing the basics of a foreign student exchange, including such
topics as attending a foreign school, living with a host family and some of the
benefits you’ll reap both personally and educationally as a participant.

Foreign
Student Exchange: The Opportunity of a
Lifetime

If you’re like most high school students, the
chance to study and live in a foreign country for a year or even a semester is
not an opportunity that comes your way very often—if ever. However, as a participant in a foreign
student exchange that’s exactly what you’ll be able to do, and at a much
reduced cost when compared to traveling independently. While many people will have the chance to
travel abroad later in life, after they’re settled, few individuals have the
unique opportunity to do so when they are still very young, vibrant and
adventurous. Just imagine all the fun
you’ll have on this exciting international excursion: learning a different culture, acquiring
valuable language skills and meeting hundreds of new faces, some of whom will
become treasured friends with whom you will share a bond for a lifetime. Only in your high school years will you
possess the perfect combination of maturity and adaptability, the spirit and flexibility
to truly immerse yourself in a fresh new way of life and absorb all it has to
offer.

In a foreign student exchange
you will study at a secondary school that may admittedly be very different than
your own, but these differences will only augment your overall learning
experience, giving you a fresh new perspective on the various ways people
learn—a perspective that will enhance your problem-solving and analytical
skills. Of course, the instruction
you’ll receive will be in your own language and the courses will count for
credit at your home school, but you will also be fully immersed into a novel
environment where people, in most cases, speak a different language than your
own, which, experts say, is the fastest route to new language acquisition.

As you might expect, the classroom or school
portion of a foreign student exchange is enough to make the trip well worth any
cost, but there are also many other program components that are equally
valuable. For example, most foreign
student exchange programs allow time for several cultural excursions during the
course of your stay—field trips in which you’ll travel with other international
and local students to visit some of the most significant sites in your host
country, providing you the opportunity to taste the local food and mingle with
the locals. From the Eiffel Tower in
Paris to the Coliseum in Rome to the Great Wall of China, wherever you decide
to go as a member of a foreign student exchange you can bet there will be
sufficient time to visit some of the country’s most treasured sites.

Finally, there is your host family. It has been said there is no better classroom
than a family home, a place where cultural learning and understanding takes
center stage. As a member of a foreign
student exchange you will live with a family who generously donates their time
and their home to make your experience a special and unforgettable one. As most former participants of a foreign
student exchange will tell you, these comfortable accommodations serve as a
type of second family, a place at which you’ll learn the most about the country
and forge the greatest number of friendships.
From weekend trips, in which you can explore your new surroundings, to
nightly meals and informative discussions, your host family are the people you can
lean on for support as they strive to make your international journey as fun,
enlightening and fulfilling as possible.

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SpainExchange.com is a comprehensive international student resource which includes study abroad schools and programs in nearly every country worldwide, student housing, exchange students and host families, language exchange partners, volunteer programs, and information on studying and living in many parts of the world.